Sapient Soul
Fruits of the confederacy
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
And blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
—Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit”
All of my life
I have lived a neighborhood over
I have sat across from
The confederacy
I have walked the grounds of a state
In which the flag still blows
Breathing out spirit of confederacy
Flag flown to never forget false legacy
I’ve been told many of times that this flag is not to offend me
That this flag be a remnant of history
But the truth be
That the American flag is allowed to be warped by its own
For red blood crossed in blue is okay for a lighter skin tone
See, I see racism’s attempt
At wearing a mask
You tell me
For how many lost wars have the losers continued to wave their flags
PROUD
Like suppression and superiority remain deeply embedded within those veins
Like memories of being beaten and bruised for being too black
Sing songs of STRANGE FRUIT to my brain
We live in a world of too many exceptions
And I refuse to accept when
What was wrong then remains wrong now
And I see the now
The now where my education doesn’t mean much
Without having to prove myself beyond my
Different hair
My different perspectives
My unique walk in this life be constantly disrespected
By what should have been buried in 1865
But racism remains alive
See I won’t juke or jive to that Dixie song
For my souls set to a different drum
My ancestral connection will never be done
Ba-Ba-Ba-Bee bopping to my own rhythm of freedom and liberation
I think
Therefore I am
While I be a part of what happened before me
Don’t confuse this poem as a puzzle
As my words spit crystal clear images of frustration
With the ignorance that persists in this land of the free
Us
was
freed
by
WE
no lincoln POLITICAL AGENDA attached
And for that
We have the right
And we have the honor
To label the confederate’s bearer as IGNORANT
So if it’s all ignorance
Why don’t you tell me
Who’s the nigger now?